The case of the Sears kit houses in College Park that couldn't actually be shown (while being offered for sale) does not have to be a lost one after all.The sellers--or their agent--of a listing in DC's Shepherd Park neighborhood show us how to handle the situation:

"BANK FORECLOSURE BEING SOLD AS IS. HOME DOES NEED SOME MINOR TLC BUT OTHERWISE IN GREAT CONDITION," say the agent remarks in the listing. And then comes the kicker: "PROPERTY IS CURRENTLY OCCUPIED BY A TENANT THAT IS REFUSING SHOWING, BUYERS WILL HAVE A CHANCE FOR INSPECTION WITH WALK AWAY ONCE OFFER IS ACCEPTED."

The house is offered for a stately $975,000. And, at least in the pictures, it looks like a place with lots of potential. So, who cares what that needed "TLC" will cost you. Just write down a number for your offer, and you'll find out later!

Sounds like a scary situation to me. I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole.

Posted by Amanda Christiansen, Christiansen Group Realty (Christiansen Group Realty (260)704-0843) almost 6 years ago

Sounds like a good deal to me! Id love to spend nearly a million dollars on a place Ive never seen.
In our area it is more common than not for the landlord to empty the house of occupants before putting it on the market.

Catarina, that is certainly a creative way to cope with an uncooperative tenant - but how many buyers will be willing to bid almost a million dollars for a home they can't see? And who knows what such a tenant may do to the house before they are forced to leave it?

There is definitely something wrong with our tenant law/tenant law enforcement in this country. I am really tired of seeing tenants run the show and wreck the premises, while everyone stands back and does nothing.

I don't take listings with tenants now. I cannot work when my hands are tied.

Asking people to write offers contingent upon walkthrough is wasting everyone's time. And I have tried this route, and tried suggesting this route...it just doesn't wash. Good buyers don't want to take the risk, and bad buyers are a waste of time for all involved.

As. Far as I am concerned, landlord/tenant laws are unilateral in nature leaving the landlord with few choices and tenants know this. Although Btyant T. Is right with regard to notice, but what agent wants to voluntarily be subjected to a tenant's wrath.

I recently tried to show a foreclosure that was tenant occupied. They only allow showings once a week between 4-6 p.m. Saturday. So all the agents flock to the property with clients to see the listing at the same time. No thanks. Good luck selling this one.

In Florida reasonable notice is required to show a property. Permission is NOT required. I consulted an attorney that I work with regularly and was instructed to give notice and show the property. You might want to check with an attorney in your area.

I have a home listed for sale now in the same situation. I showed the home last week and I'm going to show it on Monday. I called, and will call again, the police department for an escort.

I agree with Catarina to some degree. In my leases, I always include that tenant must show the property 60 days to lease expiration, so if they do not, I can force the showing just like Catarina says. If they have a lease however, and it is still current, with more than 60 days to go, than no, we do not have the right to bother the tenants.

Posted by Kamal Salim, A Superior Level of Service ! (Oceanica Realty) almost 6 years ago

We always do our best to work with tenants preference. Sometimes it is very difficult and we encourage the owners to speak with the tenants directly on this.

This isn't unusual in our area, unfortunately. I know of quite a few cases where the tenants had to be taken to court to be forced to allow access, even though the lease states only 48 hours notice is required. Of course, the courts always side with the landlord and the verbage in the lease, but it does cost the landlord a fee just to file to ask for the help. One of the risks of being a landlord.

In your case, with an REO, usually the tenants are much more cooperative and were pre-screened and coached by the bank ahead of allowing them to move in. I wonder if this is a case of a tenant who was there prior to the foreclosure with the bank having to honor the lease in place?

Catarina, I hate situations like this where you can't preview/show a property to an offer has been made. I've seen them done more often in houses that are to be down down and have little to no value and the real value is in the land, that's pretty understandable. Thanks for sharing this article.

Posted by Adrian Willanger, Profit from my two decades of experience (206 909-7536 AdrianWillanger-broker.com) almost 6 years ago

@Rosalind #20 ... paying tenants off to show the property?? Sheesh ... now I've heard everything!

Lord! We do both rentals and sales, and we have never had a problem with a tenant not allowing showing ON THE FEW OCCASSIONS when we do both together. We tell Owners that they are far better off to PICK ONE- SELL OR RENT rather than try to do both.

There are rental laws everywhere and I woudl imagine that the tenants can't really block all showings IF the agent knew what they were doing.

We see this in my market. No big deal. Write the offer and wait and see what happens. No different than buying a foreclosure at auction and that's happening every day.

Posted by Andrew Martin (REMAX Accord) almost 6 years ago

It's AMAZING the rights tenants have over a homeowner. I would NEVER write an offer and "wait and see what happens". That's ridiculous. Yeah it's being done at auctions which are normally for investors.

Posted by LaNita Cates (REMAX of Joliet) almost 6 years ago

Yikes ! Hope the buyers have nerves of steel on this one. Still, no doubt the marketing will really be a challenge.

Catarina, we had a situation with a tenant in a Freddie Mac property. They have 90 days to move out and if they don't cooperate, there's not much the bank can do. This person was difficult but we did finally get in and wrote an offer. Not sure how many are going to want to write when they can't see anything until the offer is accepted, especially at that price. Wow.

Marte--Yes, and DC tenant law is very tough on the landlord. The tenants can really hold out, and if they're not cooperating, it can be an expensive legal process getting them out.

Lenn--all the right questions, and the whole thing is very mysterious. Showing instructions are "confidential," and is was on the market a couple of years ago for $1.5M (no Shepherd Park house ever sold for that), even then with tenants. At least it could be shown at the time.

Jared--you're so right. If someone cares less, though, they might take the listing anyway. Not much work involved when you can't do anything until after it's sold...

Dale--well, yes, that would be the approach of reason. Perhaps the bank has no desire to get into any legal fights, though. and i imagine that the rent on an 8,000 sf house might be a nice way to tie them over...

Rob--very true. Why would they care? But the sellers sometimes are afraid of losing the time (i.e., income) and don't see how much it will actually cost them to keep the people in. We have actually lost listings because we suggested they wait.

Brian--None, I bet! And all too often, we have seen a rather sad picture after tenants moved out.